10 Vampire Movies That Broke All The Rules

Before you grab a pitchfork, read these two words: sparkling vampires.

You needn't like or even basically respect the Twilight franchise to accept that the series revitalised the genre's flagging commercial viability, re-imagined here as a lusty, teen-skewing romantic fantasy.

Counter to traditional genre lore, the vampires in Twilight have reflections and shadows, aren't harmed by garlic, and most controversially of all, don't burn up when exposed to sunlight, but rather glisten like diamonds.

When you throw in a hormone-soaked central romance between human Bella (Kristen Stewart) and brooding vamp Edward (Robert Pattinson), it creates the recipe for an uneven yet entirely special vampire movie - one that's urgently contemporary both for better and often for worse.

Goofy-as-hell yet taking itself oddly seriously, the first Twilight at least captures the warm-blooded yearning of its source material, even as it ushered in an exhausting era of Hollywood buying up every hit YA novel franchise in existence.

It may have made everyone sick of vampire movies for a good five years-or-so, but its influence is undeniable.